Fall is a fun time of year here in Tucson. There are horse shows, festivals, pumpkin patches, and tons of other outdoor activities. All the fun keeps us VERY busy!
This October was a special one. Not just because of all the Fall fun but because one of my dearest friends, Susie, got married. She looked gorgeous and her wedding was lovely. I am a sucker for weddings because it means getting dressed up, eating cake (I ate three pieces at Susie's wedding), and dancing!
The Marana Cotton Festival was next on our list of fun. We met my Aunt Renee and her kids there so that the cousins could play. The most popular attraction at the festival was the giant pile of freshly picked cotton. The kids played in it for a few hours digging, burying each other, making piles! It was Arizona's version of snow.
Each year Tucson has a Firefighter Chili Cook-off where all the fire departments in town are invited to compete to see who has the best booth and the best chili. All the proceeds from the event go towards making food boxes for needy families in Tucson. This year Josh decided to enter at the last minute. He threw together a booth, cooked up some chili, and volunteered at the event all day. He didn't win any prizes but he was happy to be a part of such a big fundraiser.
We ate more than chili at the event. Lillian was thrilled to be able to share her shaved ice with her bee friends.
Freya liked helping Josh try on different lion manes while he was searching for his costume. We got a kick out of her running around the house roaring.
That same day Lillian was able to go see Frozen on Ice with her cousins. Freya and I were sad we weren't able to go but Lillian filled us in on everything we missed.
We started celebrating Halloween a week early this year by attending our church carnival. The girls were excited to wear their costumes, play games, and eat junk. The carnival was made even more special by a surprise visit from Nonna and Ppa!
Lillian and her best friend Sophie were excited to be Dorothy.
Freya got lots of compliments on her scarecrow outfit and she loved the donut eating game.
Lillian enjoyed all the games and did pretty well since she was able to cheat on just about every one. I guess when you are this cute rules don't apply.
After the carnival, I sneaked out and went to see Phantom of the Opera with some women from church. I haven't seen the show in years and was surprised how differently I viewed the Phantom now that I am older.
While Nonna and Ppa were visiting we went to visit my grandmother. It made me smile to see Freya reading with her.
We also went on a fun lunch date to Sauce and had dessert (zert as Lillian calls it) at Frost. The fountain outside was just too tempting. The girls started out like this...
and ended up like this...
The culminating event of the month was, of course, Halloween. We spent the evening with some friends taking the girls Trick or Treating. Once Freya figured out candy was involved she was in heaven. She toddled up to door after door. "Ehh?" she would say holding out her little hands for a tasty morsel. It was too cute.
Halloween morning Lillian asked me what we were eating for breakfast and I told her we were having ghosts. She started to cry,"But I don't like ghosts! They aren't my favorite!" "How do you know? Have you ever had ghosts?" I asked. "No. But I know they aren't my favorite," she replied. When she found out chocolate chips were involved in the making of ghosts, she decided maybe they were a favorite after all.
Lillian felt a little left out while I was doing my make up and Josh's make up for Halloween so she decided to do her own make up. She wasn't very happy when I washed her face.
In between all those big exciting events, life went on. I put together a scavenger hunt for the girls to do one evening as they walked around the neighborhood. They were so cute running from place to place and crossing things off their list. It was an activity I see us doing again in the near future.
We spent time with our horses, one of our favorite things to do. It is fun to see Freya getting involved now that she is a bit older. She helps us brush Gigi, Benjamin, and Beauty, and she even tries to use the hoof pick to clean their hooves.
We had our first successful kite flying session one Sunday afternoon. Lillian was so excited to see her kite up in the air.
Freya kept wondering why her kite was on the ground.
The girls love to paint so we spend many evenings outside painting on the sidewalk together.
No matter the time of year, they love to hunt for Easter eggs as well. They bring me the basket, I fill up the eggs with treats, and out we go hunting!
Sometimes I like to just stand back and watch the relationship develop between these two. There are some days where they yell at each other, cry, and hit, and other days where they laugh and play. Lillian calls Freya "Darling", reads her books, and sings her songs. It melts my heart.
Freya's personality is really starting to shine. She is naturally a pretty reserved little girl. She observes for a while before she decides if she wants to participate. Once she feels comfortable though she starts in with her goofy little laugh, her pointing, and her jibber jabber.
She LOVES digging through all my stuff while I get ready. Her favorite thing to do is take out all the headbands and put them on.
She likes to be near me at all times and I try to accommodate her as much as possible. While I cook she likes to sit on the counter next to me and be my "helper."
At 16 months she is learning her animal sounds. My favorite is her pig noise. She makes the face one would make when snorting but no sound comes out!
Lillian got her hair trimmed for the first time in October. She was a trooper and held very still for our friend, Carli, who did the trimming. Even though it was only a trim and her hair is still long, it has a more mature look to it that makes me sad.
This girl loves princesses, animals, and reading so when Disney came out with Palace Pets, she was ecstatic. When she found a Palace Pet book at the library she was over the moon!
When Nonna came she brought her dog, Cooper. Cooper made a wonderful real life Palace Pet.
Like me, Lillian enjoys learning. She begs me to learn new letters. In October we learned A for Alligator and P for Pumpkin. She points out As and Ps everywhere we go.
Now we are heading in to November. No matter how hard I try to slow things down and enjoy each moment, the days just fly by. There is never a dull moment with these two little girls!
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